Here in the printer’s manuscript we have two nearly immediate corrections by Oliver Cowdery. He initially wrote “in the fruit of which I shall lay up for myself
”; then without any change in the level of ink flow, Oliver deleted the of and corrected the for to unto by supralinear insertion. Theoretically, the of is
possible in the expression “to lay up (of) fruit”, as in Jacob 5:19: “that I may lay up of the fruit thereof ” (see the discussion under that passage).
The olive tree allegory is consistent in using the preposition unto in the expression “to lay up something unto oneself ”, with nine occurrences of it:
- Jacob 5:13 that I may lay up fruit thereof against the season unto myself
- Jacob 5:18 and the fruit thereof I shall lay up against the season unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:19 that I may lay up of the fruit thereof against the season unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:29 I must lay up fruit against the season unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:31 I have laid up unto myself against the season much fruit
- Jacob 5:46 to have laid up fruit thereof against the season unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:71 ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself
against the time which will soon come
- Jacob 5:76 for a long time will I lay up of the fruit of my vineyard
unto mine own self against the season which speedily cometh
- Jacob 5:76 I will lay up unto mine own self of the fruit for a long time
In addition, there are 11 occurrences in Jacob 5 of the expression “to preserve something unto oneself ”:
- Jacob 5:8 I may preserve the fruit thereof unto myself
- Jacob 5:11 that I might preserve them unto myself
- Jacob 5:13 that I may preserve unto myself the natural branches of the tree
- Jacob 5:20 that I may preserve it unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:23 that I may preserve it unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:33 that I may preserve again good fruit thereof unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:53 perhaps I may preserve unto myself the roots thereof
for mine own purpose
- Jacob 5:54 that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self
- Jacob 5:74 and the good the Lord had preserved unto himself
- Jacob 5:74 and the Lord of the vineyard had preserved unto himself
the natural fruit
- Jacob 5:77 and the good will I preserve unto myself
Thus the archaic preposition unto is expected in these expressions here in Jacob 5 rather than the
preposition for that speakers of modern English would prefer.
